Rainbow
by Hikari-chan
Summary: AR/AU. Shinichi/Conan. Shiho/Sherry/Ai. Five different ways they could have met...and twice they never did.


**Rainbow**

By: Hikari-chan

Disclaimer: All recognizable elements are property of Gosho Aoyama. I make no money from this.

Opening Notes: 7 years! Huh, time goes by when you get older. So dear readers, long story short, I recently rediscovered Detective Conan and this came out while I was bored. This story (if you can call it a story) is an AR/AU of different ways Shinichi/Conan and Shiho/Sherry/Ai could have met (and two times they didn't). Each part stands on its own, so what happens in one sections has no bearing on the others. Unbetaed, so all mistakes are mine. Also some artistic liberty taken with personality since they are in completely different situations than canon.

Spoilers: Know Haibara Ai? Great, you're set.

Characters/Pairings: Shinichi/Conan x Shiho/Sherry/Ai, mentions of Gin, Vodka, Megure, Ran

All footnotes & appendices are at the end of the story. Anything not covered, please feel free to ask. :) And without further ado, please enjoy!

-o-o-o-o-o-

_RED_

He followed the large man in black soundlessly, careful not to make any noise as he trekked through the grass. The man was suspicious, his detective mind told him. Not only was the choice of a large black trench coat completely out of place in an amusement park such as Tropical Island, but the sunglasses hiding the man's face gave him an ominous feeling. The suitcase was suspicious too. What kind of person brought a suitcase with them to an amusement park?

_Well_, he thought, _Kudo Shinichi is on the case._ If there was going to be illegal activity going on, he, the Saviour of the Japanese Police Force, was going to catch it and stop it from happening.

He peeked carefully around the corner to witness the bulky man exchange the briefcase for something. And then, a sharp pain on the back of his head as something knocked him into the ground.

His vision became blurry, and he tried to focus on the person who had hit him. Someone in black, with long blond hair, and his muddy brain could just detect the smell of cigarettes.

"Aniki," came a voice.

"You should be more careful," a second voice replied. "This little rat would have caught you if I hadn't come along."

There was a pause, then the sound of metal clinking together.

"What are you going to do, Aniki?"

"What do you think? I don't believe in loose ends."

Even with his fuzzy vision, Shinichi recognized the sound of a gun well: the slight screech of a silencer being screwed on, the click of the safety being taken off, and then the world turned...

-o-o-o-o-o-

_BLACK_

Twenty-two year old Kudo Shinichi was walking home from work one evening when he thought he saw a shadow running into an alleyway. With the natural curiosity of a detective, he followed the shadow and found himself in a dead-end with a dumpster and the back entrance of the two buildings surrounding the alley.

He frowned. Maybe he was seeing things? He walked a little further in to check behind the dumpster. If there was nothing there, he would go home. And with that thought, he was suddenly grabbed by a pair of feminine hands and pulled behind said dumpster.

"Wha?" he managed to stutter out loud before the woman placed her gloved hand over his mouth, effectively silencing him.

"Shh," she whispered, and they both fell silent.

Shinichi took the time to study the woman. She must be of some European descent, because she had strawberry blonde hair, which was cut in a stylish bob with some of the longer strands curling around her heart-shaped face. He knew her eyes were a shade of turquoise from the brief glimpse he caught when she looked at him before she returned her attention to whatever was outside the alley. She wore a short black dress with slightly puffy sleeves, paired with elegant black satin gloves. He could make out some black ribbon accessories around her neck and right arm.

He was about to ask her what she was hiding from when he heard footsteps. They echoed in the stillness of the night, and they were just outside the alley.

"Hey, did you find her?" Shinichi heard a gruff voice ask.

"No," someone who was closer to a tenor replied. "Where could she have gone?"

"This alley?" the first voice half joked.

Shinichi's eyes met the woman's. He could see apprehension in them. Whatever this was, this woman didn't want to get caught.

"Doubt it," the tenor voice laughed. "But what the heck? Let's check anyways."

Shinichi saw something shift in the woman's eyes. He was expecting fear, but he saw something else entirely. The woman soundless dropped her hand from his mouth and hissed softly, "Kiss me."

"Wha?"

He was cut off again for the second time in the span of five minutes when the woman impatiently tugged on the lapels of his shirt and pressed her lips fully against his. She spun them gracefully and soundlessly so that her back was against the wall, his body hiding her from the view of someone walking around to look for them. One of his hands automatically came up against the wall next to her face to support himself while the other rested lightly on her waist. For a moment, he thought maybe that was it, but then she started moving her mouth over his, sucking lightly on his lower lip. He gasped softly, allowing her a chance to slip her tongue into his mouth. He could feel her arms around his waist, her fingers tracing circles on the small of his back, causing a warm feeling to pool in the lower part of his belly. Then she tugged the lower part of his body closer to hers and he nearly felt his brain fizz out.

Suddenly, all he could feel was the curves of this woman pressed enticingly between his body and the wall, her tongue exploring the cavern of his mouth. He retaliated, pushing back and tasting her without remorse. She tasted like honey and cinnamon and he wondered briefly if her skin would taste different. His hand that was previously against the wall moved to hold her head at a different angle, his fingers lacing through her silky hair. His other hand ran restlessly up and down her side as he deepened the kiss. She whimpered softly against his mouth, and Shinichi felt a low growl rising from his throat.

Neither even noticed the two unknown men come around the dumpster, chuckle at the sight, and left while elbowing each other.

When Shinichi finally felt some of his senses come back, his lips were pressed against the woman's pulse point at her neck and both of his arms were wrapped tightly around her. She was panting softly, trying to catch her breath, and he could feel the rise and fall of her chest against his own.

"I think...I think they left," she whispered hoarsely.

He raised his head and realized he could no longer hear the sound of footsteps or voices.

The woman slowly untangled herself from his arms and straightened her clothes as he watched her without a word. "Thanks," was all she said as she stepped around him to get out of the alley.

"Wait," he stopped her, his arm coming up automatically to wrap around her wrist. "I...I'm Kudo Shinichi. What's your name?"

She looked at him, an enigmatic smile slowly spreading across her dark pink lips. "You can call me Sherry," she murmured.

Shinichi noticed her voice was like velvet, and her eyes had changed colours. They were a dark shade of...

-o-o-o-o-o-

_BLUE_

The first time he met her, it was raining. He had lent Ran his umbrella and was hiding out in a bus stop to wait out the rain when she walked in. She closed her umbrella and checked the bus schedule, then without so much as a second glance at him, the only other person at the stop, sat down and proceeded to take a book out of her bag to read. Curious, and just a bit bored, he snuck a look at the book and noted with some glee that it was _Sherlock Holmes_.

"Which of his cases are you reading?" he asked without preamble. Anyone who was a Holmes fan had to be worth meeting.

"_A Scandal in Bohemia_," the girl replied impassively, not even bothering to look up from her book.

"Oh? First time reader?" Shinichi prompted.

The girl put the book down into her lap and looked up at him. Her eyes were a startling shade of turquoise, cool and sharp as she studied him. "You're a Sherlock Holmes fan," she said instead of answering his question. "High school student, aspiring detective, but maybe a bit forgetful."

He blinked at this sudden characterization, but as he met her eyes, he could feel a grin forming on his face. "Let me guess," he responded, "the uniform and the fact that I noticed your book."

"And the fact that you bothered to strike up a conversation about the book," she added. "Or do you always strike up conversation with strange women while waiting for public transit?"

"Not in particular," he smiled. He paused as he studied her. She looked about his age, with pretty strawberry blonde hair. Her long jacket was Burberry, and he could see stylish brown boots on her feet.

"You're from London, mixed descent, likely British and Japanese," he concluded easily. "You're likely a university student, with an appreciation for fashion and the classics, maybe majoring in literature or design."

She clapped her hands three times and gave him a small smirk. "Impressive," she complimented, "but I'm a chemistry major. Fashion is a hobby and literature..." she paused and glanced down at the book. "Just something to pass the time."

Shinichi suddenly felt as though she was showing him up by pointing out the flaws in his observations. Not wanting to be outdone, he shrugged casually and informed her, "I'm not forgetful."

"Oh?" she gave him a mocking smile.

He knew what she was thinking. He didn't know how he knew, but he did. "I lent my umbrella to a friend," he told her.

"Ah yes," she drawled, "the things men do for a pretty face."

He blushed all of a sudden. "It's not like that!" he insisted. "She really was a friend!"

She shrugged nonchalantly, and gracefully bookmarked her page before tucking the book back into her bag. She stood up and held out her umbrella to him. "You're not really waiting for a bus, are you?" she asked him.

"No," he admitted, "just waiting out the rain..."

She waved her umbrella in his direction again.

"But what about you?" he protested.

"Rain jacket," she replied succinctly.

He slowly reached out and took the umbrella. "Thanks," he muttered.

"Well, that's my bus," she said. "Goodbye."

Shinichi looked up to realize that indeed, a bus had pulled up while he was distracted. The nameless woman boarded the bus, and he noticed something he had forgotten to ask her. Through one of the open windows of the bus, he shouted, "Hey, what's your name and how do I find you to return this?"

She looked at him in amusement through the open window. "You're a detective, aren't you?" she challenged with a slight smirk.

Then the bus pulled away from the station and Shinichi noticed that the sun had come out. He blinked against the rays, which shone like...

-o-o-o-o-o-

_GOLD_

Conan had noticed it for a little while now. There was someone watching him. He had a sixth sense for this kind of thing, being a self-proclaimed detective and all, despite having shrunken in size and age. So he could sense it, the fact that someone was keeping an eye on him. He also knew, that whoever it was, meant no harm, because there was no feeling of menace.

At first, he thought it was his parents, but the person never showed themselves, and nothing extraordinary or flashy happened as time went by. His mom was too theatrical to be able to keep silent like that. And the longer it went by without someone revealing themselves to him, the less probable it was that it was his dad.

He almost forgot about it until one day, while walking home from school, a bullet whizzed right by him and hit the lamp post. He immediately tried to look in the direction of the bullet but there was too much chaos after the crowd realized there was shooter. Hours later, the First Division found a man with a bullet through his head on the roof of a building that had a clear shot at where Conan had been standing. There was a sniper rifle next to him. Ballistics came back another 24 hours later that the bullet that had nearly hit Conan came from the rifle, but the bullet that killed Conan's would-be assassin was from a different gun.

He paid more attention after that. Once, the engine on Agasa's Beetle started smoking as soon as they had put the key in. The mechanic that came to take a look said it looked like someone had messed with the engine, but they were most definitely lucky it had happened, because someone had cut the brakes. If the engine hadn't started smoking, they would have gotten on the road, not knowing the brakes were out. Another time, Conan almost drank a glass of water with rat poison in it, but a woman knocked it out of his hand "by accident" at the last minute. The worst was when he woke up at the Detective Agency with Ran hovering over him, telling him that he had "fainted" on his way home from school and a nice lady had brought him back.

All this led Conan to one logical solution: someone was trying to kill him. But the interesting thing was, there was someone looking after him too, and he was determined to at least make his saviour show themselves, because he was certain that his saviour knew what was going on. Otherwise, they wouldn't be keeping an eye on him.

So he devised a plan, which involved him "being robbed" in the Kudo mansion. Some faked cries and crashing noises in the dark later, he sensed it – that feeling that someone else was there.

"Who's there?" he called out. "Show yourself."

His eyes darted around the darkened library, a room he knew as well as the back of his hand after spending hours upon hours there. "I know you're there," he tried again. "Please. I just want to meet the person who keeps saving my life. Please."

He heard footsteps before he saw a shadow near the floor-to-ceiling window. The clouds in the sky seemed to pass in that instant, and the moon shone onto the figure of a young woman. He estimated her to be no more than twenty and maybe a bit shorter than Ran.

"Hello?" he spoke, walking towards her slowly. "Are you the one who keeps saving me?"

Her lips curled upwards into a mocking smile. "Or the one who keeps trying to kill you," she suggested in a soft, melodic voice.

Conan stuck his hands into his pockets and shrugged. "That guy would have made a move by now," he pointed out.

This was followed by a brief silence as they studied each other, then Conan asked, "Who are you?"

"Right now, I prefer to be nameless," the woman shrugged. "Defectors have no need for names. It just makes them easier to find."

"Defectors?" Conan echoed, his eyes growing wide. "Wait, you're..."

She crossed her arms and smirked at his surprise. "That's right, Tantei-kun," she continued. "One of those people you're trying so hard to get to. I was, anyway."

"You!" he could suddenly feel rage coming to the surface. "Tell me how to find them!"

"Children have no patience, even children who are supposed to be teenagers," she reprimanded softly. Then she crouched down in front of him and he can see more clearly the turquoise of her eyes, cold as ice. "You can barely guard yourself against the Minotaur that is standing right in front of you. How do you expect to come out alive in a fight against the intangible Pandora's Box?"

"Then why haven't you let them kill me?" he retorted.

She regarded him thoughtfully, tilting her head to one side as though something about him fascinated her. "Because," she admitted after a full minute of silence, "I owe you."

"For what?" he asked, now confused.

She smiled enigmatically. "Maybe someday, I'll tell you," she answered. "But for now, prove to me you can handle the Minotaur, then we can talk about Pandora's Box."

He hesitated. "How do I find you to 'talk' about it?"

"You had no problems this time," she pointed out. "I've got your back, at least until they find me."

She stood up. Conan wanted to ask her to wait, but the clouds chose that moment to come back across the moon, sending the library into darkness. He looked around, but could no longer see any mysterious shadows, nor feel her protective presence. The next time the clouds floated away and the moonlight shone through the window, all he could see was a beam of...

-o-o-o-o-o-

_WHITE_

He woke up to the feeling of cool, gentle fingers stroking the bangs back from his forehead. Groggily, he straightened from his position of sleeping in a hospital chair and stretched, trying to ignore the ache in his neck. His eyes focused slowly, and he found himself looking into the cool cerulean ones of the strawberry blonde on the hospital bed.

"Hey, you're awake," he said with a small smile.

She smiled back nervously and backed away a bit from him. "Hi," she whispered.

"Let me get a doctor and maybe a glass of water for you," he offered, getting up from the chair and going into the hall.

He was back three minutes later with a middle-aged man in a white lab coat and a stethoscope around his neck. He handed her the glass of water, which the girl gulped down greedily before he helped her put it down on the side table.

The doctor smiled and picked up the clipboard at the end of the bed. "Good to see you up and awake, Haibara-san," he greeted her. "Your fiancé has been very worried about you."

The girl's eyes widened almost comically. "What?" she managed to gasp out.

The doctor frowned at her. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked.

"I..." the girl began, then as though something just occurred to her, she pulled the sheets closer to herself and her eyes darted between the concerned gazes of the two men in front of her. "What did you call me?"

"Haibara-san," the doctor enunciated. "It says on the patient chart here. Haibara Ai, eighteen years old, admitted for extended exposure to rain and cold, potentially causing hypothermia and pneumonia."

The girl frowned. "Is that my name?" she asked, sounding nervous.

The doctor look startled. "Your ID said so," he replied slowly. "Is that not right?"

The girl looked back at him with confusion. "I um... I don't know," she whispered. She turned to look at the man who had been sleeping by her bedside when she woke up. "You're my fiancé?"

He observed her, his eyes showing genuine concern. "I'm Kudo Shinichi," he answered. "I'm 27 years old. Does it ring a bell, Ai-chan?"

Ai shook her head and studied him curiously. He was good looking, with jet black hair that was currently messy from sleep and eyes that were as blue as the ocean. His gray dress shirt was wrinkled from having been slept in, and Ai wondered briefly how she had ended up with someone like him.

"Doctor," Shinichi was now addressing the other man. "Is this supposed to happen?"

"No, not normally at least," the doctor frowned. "No sign of concussion or head injury. Her memory should be fine. Maybe trauma?"

"Do you mind giving us a moment?" Shinichi asked.

"Not at all," the doctor replied. "Let me take some vitals and I'll be out of your way."

With that, the doctor moved closer to Ai's bedside and took a look at the statistics on the monitor next to her bed, which had wires hooked up to her and was currently monitoring her heartbeat and blood pressure, among other things. He asked Ai to open her mouth and checked for signs of swelling in her throat, jogging down some notes on the clipboard. Once he was done, he put the chart back at the end of her bed and gave them a quick bow before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

The only sound in the room was the soft beeping of the heart monitor.

"Um..." Ai started nervously, looking at the man who was looking back at her. "I'm uh...I'm sorry I can't remember you."

He smiled at her. "I have a confession to make," he said, pulling his chair closer and gently taking one of her hands in his. "I'm not your fiancé."

"Huh?" Now she was even more confused.

"You passed out in the rain in front of my house. The only ID on you said 'Haibara Ai', and since I wasn't sure how long you had been out there or why, I called an ambulance," Shinichi explained.

"So I really don't know you?" Ai asked.

"I don't think so," he admitted.

Now she looked annoyed. "Why did you lie that you knew me then?" she asked.

"Because," he answered patiently, "they wouldn't give out patient information to someone who's not family."

This answer didn't appease her. "Then why didn't you just tell them you were my brother or something?" she scowled.

He grinned, obviously taking her spirit as a good thing. "_Kudo_," he said, pointing to himself with his free hand. "_Haibara_," he continued, pointing at her. "Wouldn't have worked without raising suspicions."

She scoffed and pulled her hand away from his so she can cross her arms.

"So, Haibara-san, do you have family you want me to call for you?" he asked kindly. "That you can remember, I mean."

She frowned again, trying to focus, but her mind drew a big blank. She _should_ have family, no? Everyone has family, and she was only eighteen, certainly not so old that her parents were dead. A sudden pang filled her heart, and she looked up at Shinichi with sadness glowing in her eyes.

"I...I don't think I do," she whispered. "They...might be dead. That feels familiar."

Shinichi reached for her hand again, squeezing it. "Okay," he said agreeably. "At least that explains why there were no missing persons report filed for you while you were here. Now, do you have any clue why you might have been passed out in front of my house?"

Ai furrowed her brows and tried to concentrate. Nothing seemed to register clearly, but there was a feeling of fear, hopelessness, and despair. She shook her head. "I think I...might have been running from something," she hypothesized. "Maybe I was in trouble, and I thought you could help? Are you famous or something?"

He gave her a lop-sided grin and she was taken aback when she realized that he really was very good-looking.

"Sort of," he admitted. "I'm a detective and the doctor mentioned you might have undergone some kind of trauma. Maybe you're right and you were coming for help."

She sighed. "If I was, I can't remember what I needed help for. What am I going to do?"

"Hmm..." he murmured thoughtfully. "You could keep playing my fiancée and stay with me, at least until we figure out what's going on. I have a lot of space."

"What?" Ai could feel her cheeks turning red at his suggestion.

"I said you can..." Shinichi paused and looked up at the heart monitor, which was now beeping twice as fast as it had been before. He turned back to the pretty strawberry blonde who was blushing and still holding his hand, amusement dancing in his eyes. "I suppose that's a yes."

Ai snatched her hand away from him and glared at the heart monitor. Some days, she really wished she could just sleep through it all, like today, when even the machinery was against her and when the sky was...

-o-o-o-o-o-

_GRAY_

The police headquarters had not changed a bit in the 6 months he had been away in Osaka. His last memory of the place had been unpleasant, to put it lightly. He knew the rumours that had circulated around the place after he became the main suspect of the notorious case, so he adjusted the oversized glasses on his face and kept his head down as he made his way to Superintendent Megure's office.

The secretary asked if he had an appointment, to which he admitted he didn't. "But he'll see me," he insisted. "Tell him it's...Yuusaku."

Fifteen seconds later, he was walking through the doors of Megure's office. He shut the door firmly behind him and walked up to the desk. "Megure-keishi," he greeted the man quietly.

"Kudo-kun," Megure replied. "It's been a long time. I haven't seen you in..."

"6 months," he finished the sentence.

"Yes, since we released you from questioning for the murders of your parents, Ran-san, and Riko-chan," Megure nodded. "How are you?"

"As well as I can be, I suppose," he admitted. "Hattori let me stay with him in Osaka."

"That's good to hear," Megure commented. "I very much am sorry for your loss, and I'm sorry we never caught the bastard that did it."

"Thank you," he responded quietly. "I know the First Division did their best tracking down the murderer, but that's why I'm here."

"Oh?" Megure was intrigued.

"I need to track down this guy," he insisted, looking at Megure with a hardness in his eyes that frankly scared the Superintendent a little. "I can't let him get away with murdering my entire family. I need you to let me back into the First Division."

Megure sighed and leaned back in his chair. Somehow, he had known this was coming. "Kudo-kun," he started. "I really am sorry, but you know that I can't let you investigate the murder of your own family. It's against policy for officers to get involved in the cases of their immediate family."

"Please, Megure-keishi," he begged. "I _need_ to do this."

"Even if I allow this, I can't explain the blatant disregard of policy to _my _superiors, who will _not_ be nearly as lenient," Megure explained.

"Edogawa Conan," he replied.

"Huh?"

"Hattori and I discussed this when I was in Osaka," he continued. "Instead of Kudo Shinichi, I'm Edogawa Conan, consulting detective. Then I can take the case. I have no relation to the Kudo family and any mess I make are my own, not the police's."

Megure hesitated, but in all honesty, he felt bad, like a mentor that has failed his mentee. If only he had realized what Kudo had been getting into, maybe he would have been able to offer some words of caution. If that had happened, those people might not have thought he was sticking his nose where it didn't belong, and maybe then, Kudo's parents, wife, and daughter might still be alive.

He pushed the intercom on his phone. "Sakurano-san," he called his secretary, "can you ask Agent Haibara of the Special Investigative Unit to come to my office right away?"

"Of course," came the secretary's reply.

"Thank you."

"No, Megure-keishi, I need to be part of the First Division, where this is being investigated," Kudo argued.

"Sit, _Edogawa-kun_," Megure instructed pointedly. "The First Division is no longer on the Kudo murder case. It has been linked to a series of unsolved murders, which means the case is part of an ongoing serial killer investigation. The Special Investigative Unit handles all unusual and high-profile homicides."

"Oh," Kudo Shinichi, now going by Edogawa Conan, responded.

"I know how you work, Edogawa-kun," Megure continued, "but as part of this deal, I expect you to respect your team and work _with_ them. Any behavioural complaints from your soon-to-be boss, and this deal is off."

Conan nodded solemnly. He understood that Megure, for whatever reason, was doing him a favour.

A knock on the door interrupted the meeting, and Conan turned around to find a woman in her early thirties entering the office. She had strawberry blonde hair, which was unusual for a Japanese woman.

"You asked for me, Superintendent?" her voice was melodic, but there was a note of detachment in it.

"Ah yes, Haibara," Megure waved her over. "This is Edogawa Conan, a consulting detective."

The woman walked over to examine him with sharp eyes, raising an elegant eyebrow when he met her gaze. "I'm Agent Haibara Ai," she introduced herself, holding out her hand. "Head of the Special Investigative Unit."

Conan shook her hand, noting that it was small compared to his own. In fact, he probably had at least 4 inches on the woman, who he thought was really too small to be taking down criminals. She wasn't bulky either.

"Don't let her size fool you," Megure commented dryly, obviously noticing the way Conan was scrutinizing the woman. "Haibara hits like a freight train and shoots like Annie Oakley."

Conan felt the beginnings of a smile lift the corner of his lips for the first time in months. "She tackled you, huh?" he guessed.

Megure rubbed his side absentmindedly, as though remembering the event. "Into the ground and out of the way of a bullet," he admitted.

Haibara smirked at her boss. "You should keep in better shape," she pointed out, "then you can run instead of being tackled."

"Very funny," Megure replied dryly.

"So," Haibara prompted. "What did you need me for?"

"Ah," Megure answered, "I would like to put Edogawa-kun here onto your team as a consulting detective. He came highly recommended and I think you can use some help on that Black Pawn Serial Killer."

Haibara raised an eyebrow at her boss's sudden hiring decision. "Anything I can say to change your mind?" she asked.

Conan opened his mouth to protest, but Megure waved at him to keep his mouth shut. "Not really," he admitted, "but I'll negotiate. If you're not happy with his _work_ in three months, we'll chat again."

Haibara looked thoughtful for a moment, then she shrugged and stood up. "Fine, I'll give this arrangement a shot. Follow me, Edogawa-kun, I'll introduce you to the team."

Conan is startled by the woman's sudden agreement, but he thanked Megure and followed her out. She set a brief pace, making her way around the corner to the area set aside for her team, an area set up with four workstations which was currently all devoid of people. Conan glanced at the clock, noticing that it was around lunch time. Haibara gestured for him to follow her into her office. She shut the door behind him and invited him to sit in the chair across from her at her desk.

"There's one thing you should know about this team," she began, cutting right to the chase. "We are very small in comparison to the other divisions. Sometimes, we have to act fast, which means everyone on this team has to trust each other to do what they're supposed to. So answer my next question carefully."

Conan nodded slowly, observing her body language. She was apprehensive about him, but not afraid.

"What are you going to do when you catch the Black Pawn Serial Killer, _Kudo-kun_?"

Conan's eyes widened and he stared at the woman with his mouth agape. "I think you have the wrong person," he answered innocently. "I'm Edogawa Conan."

Haibara stared at him, unblinking and definitely not amused. "I'm the lead investigator on the Black Pawn Serial Killer, whose victim includes the Kudo family," she told him flatly. "Do you really think I haven't studied the files enough to recognize you? Glasses don't make you Clark Kent."

He stared back, but there was not a shred of doubt in her eyes about his identity. He slouched into his chair and sighed. "I should have known Hattori's idea wouldn't work," he muttered.

Haibara quirked a smile at him. "I didn't say I wouldn't let you work on my team," she pointed out. His head snapped up in her direction. "I asked what you would do once you figure out who it is, or once you catch him."

He swallowed the lump in his throat. What did she want to hear? Arrest the guy? Tell her so she can arrest the murderer? That he was truthfully and honestly out for revenge? "I..." he stammered. "I don't know. I don't know."

She studied him thoughtfully, then slowly, she nodded. "Okay, Edogawa-kun," she finally spoke.

"Okay?" he echoed dumbly. He couldn't say that was what he was expecting.

She shrugged. "Yes. Okay. As in, I accept, and thank you for your honest, even if not at all eloquent, answer."

"What if I had said I wanted to kill him for revenge?" Conan blurted out, suddenly curious.

"No comment, because my agreement would be conspiracy for murder," she pointed out nonchalantly, "but I would thank you for being honest about it."

Conan stared at her with wide eyes. This woman was completely and utterly _not_ the type he had expected to end up working with when he walked into Megure`s office earlier.

Haibara stood up from her chair and pulled her gun and badge out of her top drawer. "The team is out in the field," she told him. "We got a call right before Megure-keishi asked me to come to his office. There`s a dead body in a freezer at a convenience store in Beika 3rd District, looking like he was enacting the Da Vinci man. "

Conan`s interest perked up. It had been a long time since he had been involved in a murder investigation, or had even been intrigued. But this one sounded just odd enough. Watching his new boss strap on her holster and grab the car keys, he felt something he hadn't in a long time: anticipation. The world around him seemed to turn from monochrome to colour, to the colour of spring, to...

-o-o-o-o-o-

_GREEN_

Being sick sucked, 7 year old Kudo Shinichi decided as he walked to school next to his long time best friend Mouri Ran. It was Shinichi's first day back to school after being stuck in bed with the flu for a week. It wasn't that he particularly loved school, but being cooped up inside the house was more than he could stand. He wanted to be outside, playing soccer, or running around with the other kids. Or meeting new people, Shinichi thought.

According to Ran's chatter, it appeared that he had missed the arrival of a new transfer student. She was supposedly a foreign student. "A little quiet but real pretty" was Ran's animated description. By the time they reached their classroom and their homeroom teacher walked in, Shinichi felt like he already knew the new girl. He looked around the class. Not much had changed since he had been away, and he didn't see anyone he didn't recognize. In addition, none of his classmates had the strawberry blonde hair Ran had described during their walk.

"Class," the teacher addressed them. "Unfortunately, Miyano Shiho-san will no longer be with us for the rest of the school year."

"Aww...but she just got here last week!" one of the girls at the front of the classroom protested.

"I know," the teacher sympathized. "Her parents encountered an emergency change in their work and had to move the whole family overseas suddenly. I will miss her as well."

Shinichi frowned and propped his chin up on his desk. Well, that was anticlimactic. He had actually looked forward to meeting the new girl, but now it looked to be just another Monday, like the ones before he got sick. He sighed softly and turned his head to glance out the window. Fall was coming, and the leaves outside were just turning a shade of...

-o-o-o-o-o-

End of Story.

Word Count: 5,886

**Appendix**

**Naming conventions:** I don't think there are that many in this fic, but here's a quick summary.

Aniki: Boss, Superior, Older brother. Vodka also uses it in the show to address Gin.

Tantei-kun: Mr. Detective, in a semi-affectionate way. KID uses it to address Conan in the show.

Ai-chan vs. Haibara-san: In WHITE, Shinichi addresses her by her first name in front of the doctor since he was acting as her fiancé, and using her last name would be pretty strange. Once alone, he uses her last name since they actually don't know each other, and it is polite to address someone by their last name in Japanese culture.

Keishi: Superintendant of police. Used as a suffix to signify rank. Like _–keibu_ for Inspector (on the show).

**Other cultural references:** If you didn't already know.

A Scandal in Bohemia: the Sherlock Holmes novel that had Irene Adler

Annie Oakley: an American sharpshooter in the Wild West during the late 1800's.

Clark Kent: Superman's alter ego, wears glasses in his civilian form.

Da Vinci man: Famous picture by Leonardo Da Vinci of 2 men superimposed on each other with their arms and legs spread apart.


End file.
